Rather than relax security requirements for translators, as the CIA is reportedly considering, why not train more native-born Americans in Arabic? Former DoD translator Erik Saar, co-author of “Inside the Wire,” was trained to read and write Arabic in just two years.

It’s not just the CIA that has had problems finding suitable translators. Saar notes in his book that many of his fellow DoD translators at Guantanamo Bay–some of them naturalized American citizens with close ties to people in terror-sponsoring countries–were not required to undergo the full screening process.